Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-12-17
Impressions gradually f:,ided into q
vague, gently regretful memory.

I'd ~ -
Impressions gradually faided into
vague, gently regretful memory.
SHE.
Sister Maria Jones. a nurse o
the order of the Awhile Cross" at
tached to the ambulances of Cor
don's division, was attending the
wounded in the rear Of the trench
es before Richmond. The time
was the winter of 1865. Gran,
was drawing his Gordon tightly
around the doomed city. With
ont those battle worn lines were all
the pomp and circumstance of war;
within, its suffering and desolation
The men in the rifle pits were
.Estretched to the utmost limit con-
|sistent with safety, and the fight
ling was Iucessantan severe.
One day. Sister Maria was called
|'on.to attend ayoung surgeon,whose
professional sardor on the field had
|ssntlf ected ffIn to- a dang rois
wound. She started Jack at the
sight of his pale, iIIanimate face,
then quietly settling herself with a
new resolve, she hardly left his
side for two days. He was chen
taken to Richmond, where better
accommodations could be secured
to him. After his departure Sis
Ter Maria continued her work OF
mercy as usual, yet there were
grayer lines upon her face aud at
times a soft, interpretive light in
her eye, while she might baye been
detected in committing certain
thoughts to her diary that she
would never willingly have made
pnblic. The next entry after the
wounded surgeons departure ran
thus:
"He is gone, and so ends my
brief dream. He recovered his
strength sufficiently to endure re-
lnoval, and during one lucid inter
val he recognized me. 1t happen
ed that alone was by bis side
His brown eyes opened with a be
wildered glare; he looked around
him YEARLY, then fixed his gaze
upon my face. In spite of myself
| FLUSHED and looked down. Then
l heard him murmur, as if to him.
self:
"It must-my little recruit-ran
off,
IL dared not raise my eyes,
though 1 could afterward have bit
ten out my tongue at my own stu
pidity. | might have given him
one word-one sign even of recog
milton; but no; must stand there
down faced like a fool, until a
gasplng sigh aroused me. He had
tainted dead away. He never
seemed to know me after that. All
me! Perhaps it is just az well, for
in this terrible hurry burly of war
we are not likely to meetsagain."
THEY.
On a mellow May morning of the
year 1867, gentleman was walk
ing along one of those puzzling. al
phabctical side streets of Washing.
ton, which in the early post bellum
days were usually either bathed in
mud or cboked with dust. A lodg-
ing and boarding house atmos
phere permeated the dingy brick
houses on either side. A tawdry
WEAKNESS of aspect brooded over
them, as though the requirements
Of existence were burdensome.
Andrew JOhnson's efforts to con.
ciliate the old aristocratic element
of the South were at their climax,
and the national capital was much
freqnented by the social and pollti-
cal leaders of Dixie in consequences.
Many of them were sadly impover-
ished and aired, perforce, their de
cayed yet unruf1ed geEtility about
the boarding houses rather than
the great hotels.
Tie gentleman finally pulled
certain door bell and was ushered
into much used parlor By a white
aproned mullato, who took his card
and FASTENED up stairs. The Wis
itor sank back into a chair and
looked out at the window. He was
tall, slender and well dressed, with
"a penSive air, long brown mus.
tache and close clipped hair slight
~ tinted with gray. Five minutes
passed, and his attitude remained
unchanged. Then there was a soft
rustic of drapery down the hall, a
faint scent OF violets in the air and
low, clear voice entering her ear
Us it's owner glided into his pres
ence. He had arisen, hat III hand,
as these words were uttered:
CDR. Izyarde will pardon this in.
truslon, / hope, for instead OF Mr..
Seabrook, it is only his niece. Un
Gle Horace is Out-Good heav'
ensw
aMy little recruit againr'
These EXPLANATIONS were the re-
suit of a mutual survey OF each
other. The lady flushed violently,
then her face slowly paled, as her
large eyes rested in wondering en-
barrassment Oh the stranger. He
drew a deep breath, then said, hes
itatingly:
.Are you indeed Mr.. Seabrook's
niece-his favorlte niece, as he has
told me7"
"He is foolish enough to call me
so; yet-what must you think OF
a., 1lI frionG NJ l,Otu |